World Notes Saudi Arabia

The hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, may be spiritually uplifting, but it has often proved physically dangerous. The grim toll:

Last week: A chartered plane carrying 247 Muslims home to Nigeria crashed leaving Jidda, killing all aboard.

1990: At least 1,426 were trampled to death or suffocated in a tunnel near the holy sites.

1987: An attempt to quell Iranians staging a violent political protest against the U.S., the Soviet Union and Israel left 402 dead, 649 wounded in Mecca.

1980: A jet departing from the Saudi capital of Riyadh caught fire when one of the passengers lighted a butane stove in an aisle to brew tea, killing 301, mostly Saudi Arabians and Pakistanis.

1974: A chartered Dutch DC-8 ferrying 182 Indonesian pilgrims to Mecca crashed in Sri Lanka, resulting in their deaths.